Wednesday, March 23, 2011

BERKELEY, CA 3/22/10 -- A strike of over 450 workers in one of the largestfoundries on the west coast brought production to a halt Sunday night, atPacific Steel Castings. The work stoppage, which began at midnight, hascontinued with round the clock picketing at the factory gates in westBerkeley.

Local 164B of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied WorkersInternational Union (GMP) has been negotiating a new labor agreement atPacific Steel for several months. The old agreement expired on Sundaynight.

The strike was caused by demands from the company's owners for concessionsand takeaway proposals in contract negotiations. Those include:

- requiring workers to pay at least 20% of the cost of their medicalinsurance, amounting to about $300 per month per employee.

- a wage freeze for the first two years of the agreement, and tiny raisesafter that.

- eliminating the ability of workers to use their seniority to bid forovertime, allowing criteria including speedup, discrimination andfavoritism.

"All eight other foundries in the Bay Area have agreed to a faircontract," said Ignacio De La Fuente, GMP international vice-president."Workers at Pacific Steel haven't had a raise in the last two years, inorder to help the company pay for increases in health plan costs. PacificSteel is now alone among the rest in trying to make its workers give back$300 a month."

The $300/month would mean an approximately 10% cut in wages for mostworkers at the foundry.

Joel Soto, a member of the union's negotiating committee, has worked eightyears at Pacific Steel, and has a wife, 2-year-old child and another onthe way. Soto said, "We've been trying to save money for a house. If wehave to give up $300 a month, we'll have to continue renting. My wife andI both support our parents, and that $300 cut is what we're able to givethem now that they're old. And with my wife pregnant, we can't do withoutthat medical care."

Benito Navarro has ten years at the foundry, and a wife and son. "That$300 is what I pay for my car to get to work. I'm the only one in myfamily working, so if we don't have that money, I'll have to give up thecar. But I'd rather eat than drive."

On both Monday and Tuesday dozens of Berkeley police, with helmets andface shields, shoved and hit strikers as they attempted to help thecompany bring trucks full of castings out of its struck facility. OnTuesday, one striker, Norma Garcia, who is seven months pregnant, wasstruck in the abdomen and taken to a hospital.

"It is inexcusable that Berkeley is spending precious municipal resourceson providing protection for this business, and opening the city toliability through these unprovoked actions by police against strikers,"said De La Fuente.

"That violence isn't necessary," added Soto. "We're just struggling forour rights. I wouldn't be so surprised to see this in other cities, butBerkeley?" Another worker showed the swelling on his arm he said wascaused by a blow from a police baton.

Workers feel additionally betrayed by the company because they and theirunion testified before the Berkeley City Council three years ago. Theyurged the city to draft environmental regulations that would allow thefoundry to continue operating while installing needed pollution controlequipment.

Pacific Steel Casting Co. is a privately held corporation, thethird-largest steel foundry in the United States. Its large corporatecustomers include vehicle manufacturers, like Petebilt Corp., and big oilcompanies, including BARCO. The company has been very productive in recentyears, despite the recession. It chose not to comment.